My Wonderful Daughter!

My New Life

Beau started kindergarten this past August and life has made quite the change around here.There are several things that have transpired since he started. For one, there are a lot more papers lying around on my desk that don't get looked through for days. Being able to write my name on my end tables with my finger is becoming more frequent. I promise you, the dirty-laundry monster makes clothes appear in the baskets to overflowing. It's not just the housework, we've had a lot of things going on outside of the home (e.g. soccer, family visiting, school events, football, church events, LifeLight). We've entered into a new phase of our lives, which actually is kinda exciting to me. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes daydream about the days that Beau and I had all to ourselves. Not because I want to go back to that, but I regret not appreciating the quietness to it's fullness.I think that's why I endeavor to appreciate every stage my family goes through.Since I haven't been very good to blog lately, I'm gonna do a quick rundown of what's taken place in our lives the past couple months.

Beau started playing soccer this fall. Here he is with Ella, which I'm sure in this one they're taking a break from the heat.

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Beau and his good buddy, Luke.

 The day before school started C.F., Beau, Lucy and I took a quick trip to Kansas City to the Dinosaurs Unearthed Exhibit at Union Station. I'm really glad we did this, even though I dreaded it since I was a little nervous about Beau's first day of kindergarten. Beau especially had fun!
                                                                                                                                                                              

This is such a fake smile, she was very afraid of the dinosaurs.

Beau's first day of kindergarten. He was such a good boy and mommy did really well, too!

Beau and Mrs. Creasey. I'm so blessed to have her as Beau's teacher.

Of course nothing says "end of summer" like the North West Missouri State Fair. Both kids had a blast, but this year Lucy became a full-fledged fair rider. She even enjoyed her experience with her little buddy, Joel. I had to steal these pictures from Joel's mom, Kalsey, since all my pictures were blurry. So, that means I had none of Beau to put on here. : (

Aren't they cute?!

 One of Lucy's favorite activities while Beau's at school is playing her "DS" and having tea parties with her babies.   

Here's Beau's first Homecoming as a Bulldog. He got to dress up for spirit week 3 days out of the 5.

Crazy Day!

Sports Hero Day! (with daddy's influence, of course)

Had to switch to the shirt, jersey was too big.

PURPLE PRIDE DAY!!

Lucy's Strange Talent.

Sorry for the bad lighting; still need a new camera. Lucy has been doing this talent of her's since she was a baby and for some reason I never caught it on camera until now. It makes me weak when I see her doing it and she thinks that's pretty funny..

Happy Summer Times

These last three weeks have been SO busy, my laundry is proof of that. I say: Boooo.. to laundry, it's so overrated!! We had the best time with all the family, it was so hard to see them go.

Over the weekend of the 4th, brother Kevin got married!!! Yay! (Being that there's 3 Kevin's in the family, we have to identify which one we are talking about, e.g. brother Kevin, Ramona's Kevin and Little Kevin.) He married the most wonderful person, Lori, and we are so blessed to have her in the family. Seriously, I love her. :) We also got new nieces and nephews, who were just as wonderful. Welcome to family Lori, Jake, Kayla, Samantha, Brandon and Family!!


Here's one of Beau at the wedding, which earlier that day he had informed me that he was not going, and that he would just see everyone back at Mimi's for dessert. After I told him that he was in fact going, I found him in his closet going through his clothes looking for his Iron Man shirt 'cause "he needed something to wear". This kid cracks me up.

Here's Lucy being Lucy waiting for her "birthday party" to begin. She believes that any social gathering we go to, it's to celebrate her birthday. "It's-a my birday party, Mom!"


We spent the evening of the third doing all the fireworks being that A.J. and Kevin were leaving the next morning, which worked out really well because of all the rain. All the kids and many of the adults had fun blowin' stuff up. Lucy wasn't too fond of "cracker's". She says, "Cracker's scare me, Mommy!" Sadly, this is the only picture I got the whole evening.


The day of the forth we headed over to Uncle Neal and Louise's, where the kids had such a fun time! They have free-roaming chickens on their farm, and one of them you can actually hold and pet. I didn't have it in me to let Beau and Lucy hold it, but they chased that thing all over the farm. It was very funny to watch.


She found a very good hiding spot.

It's My Birthday!

Prophesy from Keith Moore

This was prophesy given to Keith Moore from the Holy Ghost in 2008:

The days ahead are important days.
The days ahead have been predetermined.
The days ahead, the times, the bounds and places
appointed, have been predestined by the Father of Spirits,
the Head of the Church, and you have a part to play... See More
in this plan.
You have a God ordained predestined part. But you’ll not attain to it and you’ll not stand in the fullness of it going your own way. There is much that needs to be prepared in you. There is much that you need to be trained for and changed into. And it will not come all at once, in one fell swoop. But here a little and there a little, and grace upon grace, and build upon build and word upon word, and anointing and supply of the Spirit and grace upon grace.
If you’ll follow me closely every day, if you’ll let me lead you, if you’ll stay close and be committed, and be where I say, when I say and do what I say, then like Moses with Joshua, like Elisha with Elijah, like Timothy with Paul, so shall come upon you, a mantle, so shall come upon you an enablement, and anointing that will cause you to rise and be changed into another man. Changed into a different person, it will not be
for your glory, it will not be for men to see you. It will be for the Plan of God, it will be for the receiving of the needs of the people, it will be for the advancement of the Gospel and for the Glory of the Kingdom.

Snack Bar, Please!

Lucy had this the other day..

..asking for a snack bar.
Hilarious!!

I Promise I'm their Mother!

I'm so annoyed with myself, once again I got zero pictures of the kids and I over Mother Day's weekend. The same thing happened on Easter. C.F. leaves at 6 o'clock in the morning on Sunday's to do the radio, then heads on up to church, so I'm alone with the kids trying to get them and myself around to make sure we're on time for church (which doesn't always happen). This past weekend I had some dishes to prepare for a Mother's Day dinner, which made my morning extra busy. So by the time I got the food made, kids dressed, myself dressed, loaded everything in the car, the last thing on my mind was a picture
I'm usually the one who takes all the pictures so I usually get left out, that makes me sad . :( I hope my children don't look back on their lives and think, "Was our mother even around?" "Did she even raise us?"
However, I had a wonderful weekend. My birthday was Saturday and I started off the day by, ahhhh... sleeping in. Thanks to my wonderful husband who made that possible. I was waited on hand and foot and did whatever I wanted all day.
Then on Mother's Day, after the yummy dinner we had at Shawna's, I came home and was waited on, once again, hand and foot. I think C.F. called that weekend, " The Weekend of Nicole". Two day's of handling Beau and Lucy essentially by himself, he was never so happy to see a Monday.
I'm so thankful to celebrate another year, I look forward to what God is going to do.

Kids Worship

Here's a little clip of the kids leading worship on Mother's Day. They did such a good job. However, PLEASE don't judge my singing, we all sang loud for the kids. I love Lucy and Abbey dance.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Happy Birthday, Beau!

We celebrated Beau's birthday the weekend before so he could go to his friends party the next weekend.

Beau woke up that morning with his bedroom full of balloons, 50 to be exact. He thought that was the coolest thing; he loved walking through all of 'em. I didn't get a picture of that, though. :(

Breakfast choice: Oatmeal and raisins with bacon.

He then celebrated the rest of his morning at school.

Lunch choice: Pancake with a candle in it. He was highly disappointed he didn't have a candle with his breakfast.

He did whatever he wanted throughout the day. Even played his Nintendo DS way too long for mommy's liking.

Dinner choice: Pizza Hut.

Then the next day we all went to Kansas City to Disney on Ice. They both loved it! I think Beau's favorite was "Lion King."

After we left the Sprint Center, we drove on over to Zona Rosa and went to the new bouncy house they now have. It's not as cool as Air Zone, but still fun.

All in all I think Beau had a pretty great birthday. He celebrated mommy-style: "All week!!"

Beau's 5th Birthday Party

Let me start this entry off by telling you a sweet little something Beau said to me.

The day before his party I was getting everything around, (decorations, gift bags, ect.) and of course, Beau was ecstatic about all his stuff. He was talking and talking and talking, and being the great mom that I am when I'm busy, I did my usual "Uh-huh. Oh my! Really. Wow! Are you serious?" As I'm continuing to prepare for the party I noticed that all of a sudden he got quiet. Before I could ask him anything he quickly said to me, "Mom, you just like to make things very special for me, don't you?"

You have these little moments with your children, in the midst of all the craziness, where it all becomes worth it. It's kinda like when your children come to you, (in my case, it's just Beau for right now) and butter you up because they want something. Which is fine, cause you'll take that, too. But then there's those moments when they come and hug you for no reason, but just to tell you how much they love you. Those are the best!!

Originally this party was going to be Star Wars, which daddy was very excited to do since his 5th birthday was the same theme. I had all my ideas ready to go, then lo and behold Beau changed his mind and wanted a Mario party. Of course I didn't want him to switch the theme, but it was his birthday, and I wanted him to have what he wanted (even though that's very hard sometimes).

Regardless of him making that last-minute decision, everything turned out great and he had fun. Although, I was informed, by Beau, that his next birthday will be a "friends only" party. Since his birthday is in the winter and we have limited space in our home, we made him decide between a "cousins and two friends" party, or an "all friends" party.

My little boy is gettin' alls growns ups!
So I've decided that I have "issues" with hanging things from the ceilings.
Beau loved his cake


Luke and Abbey hiding out from all the craziness

This was the big gift, a Nintendo DS

A Little Political Humor

I saw this on Facebook and thought it was great.

Apparently, this is a real billboard on I-35 in Minnesota; not a hoax. Too funny!

Aunt Barbara, I thought you'd get a kick out of this, if you hadn't already seen it.

Birdies and Pom Poms

So, let me start off by saying that planning a girls birthday party is SO MUCH FUN. The possibilities are limitless, however, my pocketbook is not.. ha.

I chose not to go with a cartoon character theme, just because I could. Actually, I knew this was going to be the last year that I'd get to choose the theme, so I chose birdies with some pom poms. I think I may spend a little too much time on Etsy. Nevertheless, thank you Etsy and Kim Vallee for the inspiration!

Now I have a little girl who's 2, and she is amazing. I never dreamed that our little family could have been so affected by her, but we have been.

I love her little voice. I love the way she tilts her head and moves her eye's around with her perky lips. No matter what, when she hears music she automatically starts singing and dancing. She loves people (with a few exceptions). And of course, she's crazy-smart. She's knows all kind of letters, shapes and numbers. She loves shoes and refuses to leave the house without her Hello Kitty purse and her baby. That actually gets a little old, especially when the purse and baby are no where to be found. When I cough, she'll ask me, "You otay, Mommy?" The only thing that soothes her to go to sleep is my skin. It's usually my arm or my back. She's pretty determined, which I'm hoping to refine a bit; use it for good, perhaps. She thinks she can do everything her brother can, and for the most part, she does. She loves books, coloring, play-doh and now Dora. It's went from Blues Clues to Dora. Which is funny, because Beau loved Blues Clues then moved on over to Diego. Her favorite movies are the Toy Story's. She loves Buzz and Woody! She thinks tooting and burping are so funny, which, we can thank her older brother for that one. Oh, and to top it all off, she's really cute!!

Woke up to her favorite breakfast: Pancakes and bac'ey

Here is my awful attempt at her "#2" pancake.




My husband is amazing. He wowed me again this year.



Beau insisted that this birdie be in the bird nest.

Great picture of Connie and Lucy, but sad I didn't get one of my mom and Lucy. I don't know where my brain was.


The cupcake toppers were hair clippies that all the girls took home as favors.


"Thanks mom and dad for my new bike. I love it!"

Lucy's new friend, Anna! She went nuts over this baby. It was so cute.

The aftermath: Enjoying her new toys.